Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq drift lower following US strikes near Strait of Hormuz

Snowflake (SNOW) is having its best day on record.

Shares of the cloud-based data platform soared 36% on Thursday following a strong earnings report on Wednesday and a $6 billion multiyear deal with Amazon’s (AMZN) Amazon Web Services.

Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

Snowflake said AI products contributed to the “strongest sequential product revenue dollar growth” in its history. Fiscal first quarter revenue grew 33% year over year to $1.39 billion.

The company announced an expanded collaboration with AWS through a new multiyear, $6 billion agreement aimed at accelerating global enterprise AI adoption. It also deepened its partnership with OpenAI (OPAI.PVT).

Read more here.

The US stock market fell into the red on Thursday as military strikes in Iran by the US stoked new fears of renewed conflict, while a bevy of tech earnings helped bolster equity confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid by a lesser 0.1%.

Reports of renewed conflict in the Middle East and no clarity on US-Iran negotiations sent oil prices rising once more, putting pressure on equities.

Data published Thursday showed the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.4% in April and 3.8% annually on a headline basis. Initial jobless claims for the week ended May 23 rose to 215,000 from the previous week’s revised tally of 210,000.

Costco Wholesale (COST), Dell Technologies (DELL), and The Gap (GAP) will report after the closing bell. Dollar Tree (DLTR) and Best Buy (BBY) both beat estimates on EPS and revenue Thursday morning.

Initial jobless claims rose to 215,000 in the week ended May 23, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Thursday, coming in above the previous week’s revised tally of 210,000 first-time claims.

Economists had expected initial claims to be lower at 211,000 for the week, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 209,000 from 202,750 the week prior.

Continuing claims, which track the unemployed population still seeking work, rose to 1.786 million in the week ended May 16 from the prior week’s revised count of 1.771 million.

Economists had been looking for 1.784 million continuing claims.

Prices rose by 0.4% in April over the previous month, according to Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index data released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The growth came in below economists’ expectations of 0.5%, according to Bloomberg’s consensus estimates, and below March’s 0.7% increase.

“Core” PCE, which excludes the more volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.2% on the month. The print fell slightly short of economists’ expectations of 0.3% for the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure and March’s 0.3% gain.

On an annual basis, the headline and core PCE price indexes rose 3.8% and 3.3%, respectively, in April from the previous year, in line with expectations on both measures.

Meanwhile, personal income was flat in April on a monthly basis, sharply below the previous month’s 0.5% revised increase and economist expectations of 0.4% growth.

Personal spending increased 0.5% from last month, coming in equal to expectations and below the previous month’s revised growth of 1%.

The casino giant Caesars Entertainment (CZR) is set to be acquired by Fertitta Entertainment, a conglomerate with holdings primarily in the hospitality industry, in a $17.6 billion all-cash deal, including $11.9 billion in Caesars debt.

Shares in Caesars traded up by 1.8% in premarket trading on Thursday.

Fertitta will pay Caesars shareholders $31 per share in cash, the companies announced Thursday morning, offering shareholders a 7.7% premium over where the stock closed trading on Wednesday. The deal includes a “go-shop” period through July 11, during which Caesars can review other offers.

The Houston real estate leader, Tilman Fertitta, has long pursued a merger between Caesars and his own Fertitta Entertainment, Bloomberg reported. If the deal goes through, it would combine Caesars network of casino properties with Fertitta’s Landry’s restaurants and Golden Nugget properties.

Salesforce (CRM) stock fell modestly in premarket trading on Thursday following its latest quarter earnings.

Shares of the software player are down 35% year to date amid ongoing concerns that artificial intelligence models from OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) and Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) would disrupt the business models of the company and others like it.

That prompted Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to make a grand gesture to signal to the Wall Street bears that the company’s not going down without a fight.

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports on the move:

Salesforce said late Wednesday that it repurchased a shocking $27 billion in its stock in the most recent quarter. For perspective, the company spent about $3.9 billion in buybacks in the preceding quarter.

Usually, a company will buy back its stock to signal to investors it’s undervalued. After all, cash could be spent in places other than buybacks, such as on new plants and equipment.

It was Benioff’s latest attempt to fight back against the Saas Apocalypse narrative that AI models would render software companies obsolete, which has hammered software stocks in recent months, and his in particular.

Read more here.

Best Buy (BBY) stock jumped 8% in premarket trading after stronger-than-expected sales highlighted consumer resilience.

The report was Best Buy’s first since the company announced CEO Corie Barry will step down from the electronics retailer at the end of the third quarter.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports on the quarter:

Best Buy’s first quarter results surpassed Wall Street’s expectations on Thursday morning as key product launches like Apple’s (AAPL) MacBook Neo and higher tax refunds helped boost sales.

The company posted same-store sales growth of 2%, far higher than Wall Street’s expectations of 0.9% in the fiscal first quarter and exceeding Best Buy’s forecast of 1% for the quarter. That also marks a sharp reversal from a 0.8% decline in the fourth quarter when consumers pulled back on holiday purchases.

Revenue came in at $8.9 billion, above the $8.8 billion expected, alongside adjusted earnings growth of $1.28 per share, which was also above the $1.22 per share expected.

CEO Corie Barry said the results were driven by positive same-store sales growth “across the majority of our major product categories and strong performance in our Best Buy Ads and Marketplace initiatives.”

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Oil advanced, following a drop of more than 5% on Wednesday, as the US and Iran remained at odds over how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a report pointed to fresh military strikes in the Islamic Republic.

Brent (BZ=F) rose above $96 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $90. President Donald Trump said he was “not satisfied” with talks, as the White House denied an Iranian report on a draft agreement that said Tehran and Oman would oversee the waterway.

Crude is still on pace for a second weekly drop on optimism that the warring parties will manage to conclude at least an interim deal, despite the challenges. Sticking points in the negotiations include the nation’s nuclear program and Iran wanting to retain control over Hormuz, which remains subject to a double blockade imposed by both Tehran and Washington.

The US carried out new strikes in Iran against a site that posed a threat to US forces and traffic in the strait, a Reuters reporter said on X, citing a US official. Earlier this week, the US had attacked sites around Hormuz.

Read more here.